A
last-of-its-kind weather observatory with roots reaching back to the earliest
days of U.S. space exploration rocketed into orbit this morning to keep logging
environmental records until a long-delayed new generation of satellites is
ready.

The night-owl ascent from
Vandenberg Air Force Base was precisely timed to achieve the polar orbit where
an aging predecessor satellite currently operates.

Valued at $564 million, the
NOAA-N Prime satellite mission has the specific goal to further the
distinguished legacy of tracking
global weather conditions and compiling continuous climate data.

The satellite's family tree
can be traced to 1960 and the launch of TIROS, the first Television Infrared
Observation Satellite. Upgrades and technology advancements have evolved the
civilian weather observatories through the decades. NOAA-N
Prime is 43rd satellite launched in the long line and the 16th from its
particular series that dates to 1978.

"Since the 1960s,
we've gone from collecting and generating somewhat fuzzy cloud images of
weather systems to producing crisp images of clouds, land and ocean features,
collecting information about the vertical distribution of temperature and
moisture in the atmosphere and developing products to support our broad range
of environmental applications. So we've gone from launching weather satellites
to environmental satellites," said Mike Mignogno, NOAA's program manager
of Polar Operational Environmental Satellites.

NOAA-N Prime has a design
life of two years. Its sister-satellites have had an average lifespan of 3.75
years, and officials hope to get as much use out of this spacecraft as
possible.

"NOAA-N Prime is going
to give us data the same as we've been getting in the past, but its main role
is continuity of service and to restore some of the degraded instruments that
we've had," said Tom Wrublewski, the satellite's acquisition manager.
"So we're looking forward to a fresh satellite that has 100 percent of
everything working and also help us continue our services until the next
generation NPOESS satellites are ready."

NPOESS is the future of
polar weather satellites. The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental
Satellite System will combine the civilian NOAA and U.S. military weather
spacecraft into a single program, an effort started by the Clinton
Administration in 1994.

But the new NPOESS satellites
have been beset by technical and money problems, delaying the first craft's
launch to January 2013.

To help bridge the gap from
the heritage satellites to the next generation, a demonstration satellite
called the NPOESS Preparatory Project is slated for deployment at the end of
2010.

"The NPP satellite,
which carries the instruments that the NPOESS satellite is carrying, will give
us the insurance of having a backup in orbit if for some reason N Prime fails
before the launch and checkout of (the first NPOESS)," said Gary Davis,
director of the Office of Systems Development at NOAA's Satellite and
Information Service.

Circling 530 statute miles
above Earth and completing a revolution every 100 minutes, the NOAA-N Prime
will operate in the so-called "afternoon" polar orbit to replace
NOAA-18 and its degraded instruments. The orbit crosses the equator from south
to north at 2 p.m. local time on each trip around the planet.

"It's a good
cooperation," Mignogno said. "We share the data and we both benefit
from the fact that we're each providing only one satellite but getting the
benefit of two."

Users of data from the
polar-orbiting satellites are wide ranging. Meteorologists generate weather
predictions, agricultural scientists need the information for drought
management and monitoring vegetation and soil moisture and even the aviation
community rely on the spacecraft to detect and track volcanic ash plumes for
re-routing of aircraft.

NOAA-N Prime is outfitted
with instruments that provide imagery, atmospheric temperature and humidity
profiles, and land and ocean surface temperature observations, all of which are
key ingredients for weather forecasting. In addition, the information generates
decades-long databases for climate monitoring and global change studies.

"The data from
polar-orbiting satellites such as NOAA-N Prime will be vital to our mission as
we move forward to monitor and to predict not only current conditions in the
atmosphere and oceans but also to keep tabs on the longer term climate
trends," said Wayne Higgins, director, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

The Lockheed Martin-built
satellite also carries an instrument to study the quantity and extent of ozone
in the atmosphere and a space environment monitor that measures changes in the
Earth's magnetic field and radiation belts caused by solar storms that can
threaten astronauts and impact terrestrial communications, according to Wayne
McIntyre, NASA's program manager for the Polar Operational Environmental
Satellites.

In addition, the NOAA
satellites are equipped with search and rescue packages that detect distress
signals from emergency beacons. Over the past 26 years, the network has been
credited with more than 24,000 rescues worldwide.

NOAA-N Prime had to
overcome the perils of its past to even reach space. In September 2003, the spacecraft
was severely damaged in a factory accident, falling on its side while being moved because
workers failed to realize the satellite wasn't bolted to the handling cart.
Extensive work went into rebuilding the craft.

Shipped to Vandenberg last
November, the bird passed its final pre-flight testing and then rode to the
launch pad in mid-January for mounting atop the Delta rocket.

Two
back-to-back scrubs for pad-related glitches kept NOAA-N Prime on the
ground a couple extra days this week, but the wait resulted in today's flawless
ascent to orbit.

"The flight was just
awesome. We hit the orbit right on the money. The apogee, perigee and
inclination of the spacecraft looks right where we wanted it," NASA launch
manager Omar Baez said.

This marked the 85th
consecutive successful launch by a Delta 2 rocket and the 138th overall for the
venerable booster that will celebrate its 20th birthday next week.

"We are proud to
celebrate the 20th anniversary of Delta 2 by successfully launching this
critically important spacecraft for both NASA and NOAA and we congratulate our
mission partners on their success," said Jim Sponnick, United Launch
Alliance's vice president of the Delta Product Line.

After arriving in space,
the satellite sprung to life and unfurled its power-producing solar array. Two
months of testing are planned before the craft goes to work as the final
weather satellite in the long family history.

"A bunch of people
that worked on this program for the full 30 years are all going to get together
a couple weeks after the successful launch of N Prime and just reminisce about
an era that's come to an end," Davis said.

"I think this is a
very storied program," Mignogno said. "I think it's going to be a
tough act to follow."